Micro adventures of the NW rockies

MT6bt

Rock hound
My intentions of this thread are to display the various micro adventures near the area i reside-western Montana. (edit: over a year has passed by and I should rename this thread to a broader spectrum of the USA.)
Fortunately for me, the culture and history of the land is as interesting as the various ecosystems.

The vehicle: A 1998 dodge ram 2500HD cummins 12 valve. I chose this vehicle because of its incredible simplicity. The engine is practically bullet proof, has massive low end torque, and is suprisingly efficient. Parts are readily available, and has also been considered the best diesel engine to have ever been put into a fullsize truck. The frame and body? Eh, best not get into that...
I owned a 2000 toyota 4runner previously and was very impressed with its capabilities and quality overall. However, since there is no more economical version available stateside due to some oxymoronic emissions standards, i figured why not get a bigger vehicle that will achieve greater fuel economy?
Modifications are somewhat minor at the moment. A leveling kit, and i stuffed some nice Toyo A/T pizza cutters underneath for added traction and clearance(285/75/18E or 34.8" tall), rancho 9000XLs, air intake, larger compressor, pump work, 4" exhaust, yada yada...
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My current camping setup is in its beta version.
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Edit 1/7/2016: finally made a big step in the right direction and purchased an alaskan camper
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Basically just a platform on a 2x4 frame. The 3 range dualfuel coleman range has been awesome so far, and its dual fuel capabilities saved my rear end once already when camping 50 miles away from a sporting goods store!

The crew:
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Myself and my two german shepherds, Elwood and Maya. I 'm not sure which i take more photos of, them or my truck, so I hope you like both!
:D.
The mosquitos were horrid up here! Suprising because it's around 8500'. If you look at every photo beforehand, Elwood has his eyes closed from them
 
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MT6bt

Rock hound
First adventure: Glacier National Park

If you've never been here, GO! It is easily in the top 3 most amazing places I have ever been to, and in my humble opinion is far more amazing than our other park, yellostone.


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the road en route to East Glacier, skirting outside of the park
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A view overlooking two medicine lake

To be continued...
 

escadventure

Adventurer
Nice rig. I thought a long time about getting a 12 valve.

I'm looking forward to hitting some of our national parks when I get back stateside.
 

MT6bt

Rock hound
If only they offered a toyota with a 1 ton chassis with the 6bt....oh, im dreaming! Now, continuing my glacier trip:

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The views are quite spectacular. My poor quality camera phone does little justice for these vistas.

Unfortunately I was working in the area, so my ability to really explore was somewhat limited. However, there was several days of downtime due to the near record rainfall that occured over the course of three days. So, being stationed in Coram MT, I journeyed south
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to the Hungry horse resevior(sp!)
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The weather inhibited the picture a bit but nevertheless, you can see the immense size of this manmade wonder. It is over 330 feet thick at the base and stands 563' tall. Good thing, because it holds back a lake that is over 50 miles long!
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You can drive all the way around it, however i only made it about 25 miles from both sides.
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Here is a cascading waterfall right off the road on the other side of the dam.
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Along with plenty of places you can camp for free.
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MT6bt

Rock hound
Not to digress too much, but in case you were wondering what i was working on up near west glacier it was this:
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A treehouse! Well kind of...we were contracted to build a treehouse platform for a "Glamping" company called "Glacier Under canvas" since their current contractors were incapable of advanced carpentry...and math:
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Note to all the penny pinchers! Sometimes you really get what you pay for when you hire the lowest bidding contractor!:eek:
Needless to say, we ended up staying up there for another month fixing everything they built. But anyways, back to my adventures. Enough of work!
Over the 4th of july week, my parents rolled into the bozeman area on vacation. Since we've explored the SW portion of MT with them several times already, I wanted to take them somewhere really special. Back to Glacier we go!
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The drive up is beautiful. I highly recommend the route that uses US93 north through helena and seely lake. It seems much more scenic and although you cant drive as fast as the I90 route, it doesnt take more than 30 minutes more. There is, however, many more turns and hoards of deer after you get near seely lake area.
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The beargrass was in full bloom and it is amazing! These flowers stand over 3 feet tall and in many areas there are so many, it looks like a thin white cloud looming over the forest floor. I was very excited to see them because they only bloom once every 5-8 years.
 

MT6bt

Rock hound
The first day we arrived in Coram was the 4th. Initially I had plans to take my parents out on flathead lake for the fireworks show, but that fell through. Had to think quick, and began asking the locals where to go for the 4th. I kept hearing the town of Hungry Horse was the place to be. So, with no expectations, we made our way 15 minutes southbound.
Little did i know, the town had no professional fireworks display, rather, the entire town gathers right on main street and lights off their fireworks. It was easily the best and most awesome red neck 4th of july i have ever had!(second would be automatic AR-15s and 10 lbs of tannerite;) 'Merica!)
If youre ever in the area for the 4th, i highly suggest checking out hungry horse on the 4th. It even rhymes!
For our travels into the park, I wanted to go somewhere really special. Since i have never actually been there, i had to do my best at guessing where to go.
Well on the NW corner of Glacier, 5 miles from Canada, lies Kintla Lake.
So we packed up the dodge and headed on up! Certainly on eof the occasions i am very glad that i have such a huge truck because we had to stuff in 3 people, 2 huge dogs, 2 kayaks, and enough food and supplies for several days 50 miles away from the nearest town.
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The road seemed to take forever. 40 miles on a dirt road takes a while! The road gets really rough the last 18 miles after the tiny township of Polebridge.
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I was honestly quite worried we wouldnt get a camp spot; there were only about 8 available when we left coram much later than expected. The thought of having to drive all the way back down loomed in my head since it was the 4th of july weekend and camp spots are a first come, first served basis.
Fortunately, we were lucky! But by the time we arrived, the site was full within 30 minutes...a close one!
It was certainly a good choice going up there. We spent three days total. The lake was the clearest, most tourquoise blue hue ive ever seen before. One evening i decided to set out for a quick paddle on the glassy waters and was amazed to look and see more than 25' down to the bottom!
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The next morning we set off for the going to the sun road-which i would not recommend doing if you are planning on return back to kintla lake. It is one helluva drive and had taken over 8 hours to drive from kintla to st. Mary's and back. Unfortunately i have no pictures of it because i was far too busy not getting into a crash-or worse! But it is bar none the most amazing paved road ive ever been on. Check it out!
All said and done, after we completed the trip i did a hand calculation of my fuel economy and acheived 17.4 mpg. Not bad for carrying around over 2000lbs of gear at low speeds...
Ah, I love turbo diesels!
 

MT6bt

Rock hound
Well, due to some unfortunate circumstances my vehicle has morphed into a slightly more permanent residence than expected. No matter, I am becoming quite accustomed to this humble lifestyle. Every day presents itself a new opportunity to explore, discover, and live life to its fullest!
All these years of procrastination from doing what I've longed to do has now presented itself a unique opportunity. Time to take advantage of a bad situation while i still can!

The woods have called and I have decided to take an incredible journey into the heart of the Absaroka/Beartooth range. This mountain range is incredibly remote and is revered as the wildest mountains in the contiguous U.S! Granite peak-montana's highest mountain, nestled in the Absaroka/beartooths-was the last tall mountain to be conquered due to its remoteness(so i've heard...).
The road I have taken is about 60 miles long starting in Big Timber, heading south into the Absarokas(locals call them the Absorkee mountains).
The first ~30 miles are paved and leads you to an amazing natural feature, natural bridge falls. The boulder river punches its way through limestone and disappears underground, only to pop out the other side, cascading over 100' to the river below.
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Here is a view from above the waterfall(sorry i do not have a picture of the actual falls-guess you'll have to see them for yourself!)
Shortly after natural bridge falls, the road turns to gravel and gets progressively worse until you hit independence trail.
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From that point on, i would not suggest taking any vehicle that isnt equipped for real offroad travel. On a scale of 1-10, i would rate this trail a 4-6 in terms of difficulty.
From a historical point of view, Independence trail came into existence from the discovery of gold in the area. I will not get into much detail, as you can read all about it here:
http://deq.mt.gov/abandonedmines/linkdocs/196tech.mcpx
It's a great read and further enhances the following pictures...
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As you can see the trail isnt very technical. I didnt even need a spotter, although in a couple spots it wouldve been really helpful. Still, I certainly wouldnt advise taking a Subaru up it!
The trail continues on up for several miles until you reach an old ghost town-which Im not sure what one it is exactly(there were several besides the town of Independence). It's remarkably well preserved
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The comradarie between fellow prospectors must've been unparalleled because they had...
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A DUAL sh!tter!
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Continuing up, a short time later, the road becomes a creek for a short time. (Editor's note: I'm beginning to realize there are way too many pictures with my truck in it!)
And shortly after, the woods open up for an amazing view
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Then, back into the woods! It gets a little tight for a fullsized vehicle, so if you were to take this trail, be prepared for some Montana pinstriping!
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The only spot that gave me any trouble was here:
 

stioc

Expedition Leader
Wow, awesome pics! thanks for sharing. Love the Dodge, the GSDs and the amazing scenery- I'm now day dreaming about visiting MT one day.
 

real3175

Observer
Great photos! Definitely subscribing to this thread. I have a similar setup with my Silverado 1500 and truck cap. Do you ever have to leave your dogs in the bed under the cap for a few hours at a time?

On some of my trips I ride ATV's but am hesitant to leave my dog in the bed for an hour or two even with the slides open...
 

MT6bt

Rock hound
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The picture doesnt really give it any justice but i had to drive right over those two rocks or else get hung up on them. The one on the right must've been about 2' tall. I got over that one fine but then the rock on the left side (looker's left) caused my suspension to articulate and the reality of open differentials ensued! It took several attempts, and had to move some rocks around, but eventually i continued on up the road...
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Look! A picture that doesnt have my truck in it!
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Another ghost town.
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About 3/4 of a mile(or 45 minutes later...;) ) I have reached the top! This amazing landscape sits at about 8500', and it is incredible to think that those prospectors created this trail over a century ago. The road conditions have GREATLY improved, im sure...which seems hard to believe.
If you read up on the history from the URL I posted, this trip that can be accomplished in about 6-8 hours took prospectors 5 days to complete by horseback.
Even more amazing is there was mining all the way up here, as well!
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I edited the photos to enhance the viewers experience! You are very welcome!
Anyways, all that driving has made me incredibly hungry. Time for sone tasty lunch! I spare no weight with my food setup; cooking is one of my favorite things to do!
Forgot to take a picture of my culinary abilities, but hopefully words will describe it well enough: chorizo tacos with sauteed peppers and onions, black beans, topped with fresh salsa, cilantro, and a sliver of organic medium cheddar. Mmm, mmmm!
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If words dont describe it well enough, hopefully Elwood's expression will. Hah!
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Some interesting thistles growing up here...
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Makes me wonder if those ole prospectors had enough time to admire the beauty of this place....
Well the weather up here is incredibly unpredictable and I am very exposed. Also, what you can't see is every mosquito within a two mile radius has come to say hello. So, despite my plans to stay the night up here, we must bid it farewell...
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The road going down revealed a nice vista i had taken for granted on the way up...perhaps because i was focusing on not driving off the 200+ foot drop off!
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And finally decided to pull off into one of the numerous free camp sites and enjoy the evening on the Boulder river, free from those pesky mosquitos.
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The next morning i continued back to Bozeman, but decided to take the road less traveled-some dirt roads that had plenty of great views as well
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It was well worth the extra time!
Cheers.
 
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MT6bt

Rock hound
Great photos! Definitely subscribing to this thread. I have a similar setup with my Silverado 1500 and truck cap. Do you ever have to leave your dogs in the bed under the cap for a few hours at a time?

On some of my trips I ride ATV's but am hesitant to leave my dog in the bed for an hour or two even with the slides open...
Thanks for the reply! The only time i am concerned for the wellbeing of my dogs in my truck is when it gets too hot. In that case i always make sure there is plenty of ventilation and shade. I have seen one too many dogs expire from heat exhaustion to ever chance leaving them in a situation where they can get over heated.
 

wreckdiver1321

Overlander
Awesome shots! Sorry I wasn't available to join you on the run up Independence, that would have been fun. I'm still dead set on getting to the top before summer ends. My fiancee worked at Christikon, the last camp on the Boulder, for a couple summers. That area is just amazing. In the lower 48, you can't beat the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness sheer ruggedness and remoteness of the area. I am absolutely in love with it. It is some seriously wild and untamed country. I would suggest you check into the area north of Cooke City, but it's not exactly conducive to full size trucks.

You have some beautiful dogs as well. My folks have had a few GSDs and they are awesome dogs.

We still have to do a trip together sometime this summer!

Wow, awesome pics! thanks for sharing. Love the Dodge, the GSDs and the amazing scenery- I'm now day dreaming about visiting MT one day.

Stioc, I keep telling you, ya gotta come out here. I'd be happy to show you around! :D
 

MT6bt

Rock hound
Awesome shots! Sorry I wasn't available to join you on the run up Independence, that would have been fun. I'm still dead set on getting to the top before summer ends. My fiancee worked at Christikon, the last camp on the Boulder, for a couple summers. That area is just amazing. In the lower 48, you can't beat the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness sheer ruggedness and remoteness of the area. I am absolutely in love with it. It is some seriously wild and untamed country. I would suggest you check into the area north of Cooke City, but it's not exactly conducive to full size trucks.

You have some beautiful dogs as well. My folks have had a few GSDs and they are awesome dogs.

We still have to do a trip together sometime this summer!



Stioc, I keep telling you, ya gotta come out here. I'd be happy to show you around! :D
We'll have to meet up on eof these days. I am suprised to say ive met up with two members in the last two days!
 

MT6bt

Rock hound
Well today i decided to take a quick trip down to the Tom Miner basin in the southern gallatins. The weather has been hit and miss all day-i welcome the rain, as it has been very dry the last few days.
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It eventually cleared off to reveal a nice rainbow, which you cannot see very well due to my current camera setup(camera phone, sorry folks)
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My inyentions for this trip are purely to explore the area, as it has been several years since ive been down here....so i left there and made it further into the basin to the campground only to realize it was a fee area. I guess either i am too cheap for the $7 charge or i find it more enjoyable to find a free spot. So...i high tailed it out of there and arrived at a beautiful plateau/meadow overlooking the entire basin. I will post pictures of it tomorrow because it was far too dark to get a decent picture. Also, this is one of the few times where i can actually post from the back country. Wow! So, i bid you a farewell until tomorrow. :)
 

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